Agriculture
7 Problems Of Agricultural Marketing In Nigeria And How To Tackle Them

7 Problems Of Agricultural Marketing In Nigeria And How To Tackle Them

Editor

Editor

Marketing of agricultural products is one of the most essential parts of agriculture,especially if you are a commercial farmer. It involves the selling of the already cultivated and harvested farm products. Without agriculture, there would be almost nothing like food because even the synthetic diets and junks are all make from them.

Agriculture is the major source of things like wood, paper, meat, plastics and almost anything we can lay our hands on. This means that to have enough for ourselves, we need to multiply in production and also be able to suit the needs of the upcoming generation. However, the problems of agriculture in Africa and the problems of agricultural marketing in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, South Africa and even the whole of Africa are so many.

They are so many especially looking at the fact that the government is not too supportive of the industry. Now looking at a country like Nigeria, the government would rather invest in the oil sector, politics, education, entertainment, engineering facilities and building projects rather than feed the nation. This no doubt is the major reason why the industry is lacking.

Now we are here talking about the challenges facing agricultural marketing in Nigeria. If well taken care of, the agricultural sector can provide us with so many jobs that unemployment would become a thing of the past.

Aside that, raw materials and food for our consumption would be in excess. However it is not so. The challenges facing the industry are so much that they would need a joint action to be tackled. This joint action cannot be a reality without proper creation of awareness and that is what we are doing now.

Everyone needs to know the challenges facing this amazing industry called agriculture to help us tackle it.

Challenges Facing Agricultural Marketing In Nigeria And How To Tackle Them

The challenges facing Agricultural marketing in Nigeria are not so different from the challenges thay have in Chad, Niger, Togo, Ghana and other parts of the continent, Africa.

We will see them below:

- Poor quality of products

The products turn out to be of low quality because of lack of proper processing and storage facilities. There are no silos to store the wheat and no refrigerators to take care of the tomatoes. You know what happens next? The tomatoes wither off and loose market value. We in turn go into purchasing of the tinned and other processes tomatoes which makes these ones to become a waste.

Another reason for this is the fact that the local farmers and producers do not have improved varieties of the products. Lack of fertilizers also make the produsts turn out bad and these pose a serious issue.

How to tackle it: You can tackle the issue of poor quality of products by supplying the farmers with improved and quality varieties, as well as good farm storage and processing facilities.

- Lack of transportation facilities

The villages where these farms are located are almost inaccessible, making the products to whither off before getting to the city or market. This is a serious issue because it causes business loss and in turn causes discouragement among the farmers, who suffered to produce them.

Aside that, if eventually the products get to reach the market, they would have lost market value because of poor transportation and storage facilities. This is seriously one of the major challenges of agriculture in Africa. In Europe, farmers are wealthy and most times would not need any assistance to make their roads more accessible, that is if the government hasn't done that already.

How to tackle it: Grading and tarring of the roads leading to the interiors where these farms are located would go a great way in helping the industry. You can also transport via water ways where applicable.

- Lack of credit facilities

There is generally lack of funds, especially among illiterate farmers which makes their farming difficult. They find it hard to produce food for their families and how can they now supply to the market?

There should be loans and grants, and farmers should always follow websites like this that help connect them to opportunities. Banks and other financial institutions should also make available loans for these micro-farmers to expand.

How to tackle it: Provision of loans and credit facilities by related bodies and the government particular to farmers as this will help them expand their businesses.

- Illiteracy

Many farmers are illiterates, which makes them unable to adopt changes in the industry when they should. Farmers should be aware of the latest developments especially in the terms of varieties and implements. They should also get the basic education so they can be able to successfully carry out measurements where needed.How to tackle it: By giving the farmers affordable or free access to basic education. The government and some NGOs can cater for this.

- Lack of quality market information

This is also roughly as a result of illiteracy, so the farmers do not know of the latest developments. The farmers need to be aware of any new upgrades, so they can be able to fix their prices suitably and also help them gain access to the subsidies and discounts provided for agriculturists.How to tackle it: You can tackle this by public enlightenment. There should also be magazines like the FAO which the farmers can lay their hands on and be much more enlightened on happenings.

- Unstable system of measurement and prices

A kg of chicken in Owerri might be sold for N1,000 and that same kg will only be N600 in Jos. This is unlike some other parts of the world where technology is in the peak. Depending on where they make their purchases from, the farmers almost spend equal capital and at the end priced low and the result is loss.How to tackle it: There should be agreement on the prices of products before they are released into the market.

- Lack of storage facilities

This is one of the biggest issues because the products must be stored. Perishable items like fish if not well taken care of begin to spoil and when this happens, they lose market value. They are either sold out cheap or wasted.How to tackle it: Government should subsidize the cost of storage facilities such as silos and cold rooms.